Dollars and Dropouts

In the NYT, Tamar Lewin takes a look at K-12 philanthropy. Punchlines: More dollars going into K-12 and:

“A lot of the old philanthropy was devoted to helping schools do what they were already doing,” said Richard Lee Colvin, director of the Hechinger Institute at Teachers College at Columbia University. “The new group is saying, ‘Let’s try something different.’ It’s a lot of young, active entrepreneurial people – Bill Gates, Eli Broad, the Waltons, Dell, Milken – who want to change the schools, who want to use their money to support specific school reforms.”

Two quick notes. First, look for a book from I’m Rick Hess Bi*ch on K-12 philanthropy in a few months (Harvard Ed. Press) with a lot more on this. Second, historically, major changes to education have tended to come from outside the field so aside from just the resources these foundations bring to the table, don’t be too quick to write them off as a passing fancy. Instead, this could be the infancy of tomorrow’s establishment (which would one day hopefully be challenged anew…progress?).

Over in the Wash. Times George Archibald drops-in on dropouts with a long report. Excellent dropout background from the Ed Trust in this report (pdf).

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